Singing in chinese

I have been learning Chinese at kindy since last year but that was like for half an hour a day. This year, I have been in full Chinese medium classes and I have improved a whole lot, although papa thinks I need more coaching as I speak Chinese with a funny accent.

Below is a video clip of me singing in Chinese. I only let mummy record this as she was busily recording my mei-mei before this and I wanted a video of myself too. So this is the first video of me singing in Chinese. Enjoy!

Mummy's entry - Dealing with Death

We had been busy over a month ago, work and personal. The girls' Ah Kong (paternal grandfather) was in the hospital in Penang for just over a month before his body gave way and we lost him on 23rd November 2010.

It was our first time (the girls and I) that we were in Penang 3 times within a month (and for hubby, many more times). The first 2 times were to visit him and shortly after our 2nd time, he passed away and we were back again for a week for his funeral.

It was a shocker to us all as we really thought he was recovering from his quadruple bypass operation he had 3 weeks before. Nonetheless, looking back now, he had lead a wonderful life of 70 years and we got to celebrate with him in July (when I have the time, I will post on the celebrations). We are glad that he got to see his 3 young grandchildren and that he got to travel a lot in the last 4 years (we knew of his heart problem then but he chose not to have the operation and to live his life to the fullest).

This is Rye Li's 3rd time dealing with death. The first was her maternal great grandfather (my grandpa) when she was 1 and a half years old. That was when she knew of heaven and all but the impact was minimal. After a year later, when she was nearly 3 years old, her maternal great grandmother (my grandma) passed away and this is where she has learnt the most about death and heaven. To her, heaven is where people go to when they die. Since then till now, she had asked many questions on death and to one point, she got scared and cried that she doesn't want to die. I'm guessing that she is afraid of losing us and when she does bring this up, I will reassure her that it's a very long time more that any of us will leave this world. She knows that the olders one will leave us first and at times, the sickly young ones will leave.

She knew that her Ah Kong was sick and is in the hospital and she did ask whether he was going to heaven and I told her not yet as we are trying to get his heart fixed. The night when we knew he had left us, I wasn't sure how to tell her the news. I was contemplating whether to tell her that night itself or the next day when we had to leave for Penang. But in the end, I did tell her that night and for the first 5 minutes, her reaction was to ask many questions :-

"How did kong-kong go to heaven?"

"Who took him to heaven?"

"He die already ah?"

After all the questionings and when it finally hit her, she went "I miss kong-kong" and cried. The very next morning, the moment she got up, she told me "Mummy, I dream (t) of kong-kong last night". And when I asked further, she said that he was at the hospital and he was sitting up, smiling at her while she was sitting on his lap (ever since he had his bypass, he had been lying down and his body was still at the hospital that night, they only removed his body to the funeral parlour the next morning). I don't know whether you believe of such things but I did "thank" FIL when we reached the funeral parlour to let her "see" him happily as Rye Li refused to see his body inside the coffin and we did not force her at all.

When she was at my grandma's funeral over 2 years ago, she kept asking to see my grandma in her coffin. I'm assuming it has got to do with age too (since her mei-mei and younger cousin always ask to see him throughout the wake).

Rye Li did not cry at the wake or on the actual funeral day but when we were not at the funeral parlour, she would go "I miss kong-kong" and would show a very sad face. At the wake, she participated mostly during the chants and we were proud of her. She did show fear when we asked her to pray with the joss sticks and only when we told her that she will not see her Ah Kong's body, she would do it. Hubby and I decided not to force her to see as we wanted her to remember her Ah Kong when he was alive.

On the day when we collected his bones after the cremation, we were surprise that she willingly took a piece of his bones (each family member had to take a piece from the container into a small clothed bag before they assisted to put all of them into the bag). FIL had always wanted his remains to be thrown into the sea and we gave him that wish.

Rest in peace Ah Kong!....we will always love you and thank you for care and love especially when you were staying with us.

The following are some pics of his final days with the girls as well as during his wake :-

the girls with Ah Kong at the hospital late October 2010, before his bypass. rye li not so lady-like!

the girls busy playing games while waiting at the hospital, their 2nd trip and also they could not hang out on Ah Kong's bed since it's after his bypass

rye li during the chantings at nights

Rye Li got to mix around with her second cousins (who came from KL and Ipoh)

Rye Li and her mei-mei

The below were taken after the funeral at the crematorium :-

Ah Kong's only 3 young grandchildren

Rye Li and her second cousins from Ah Kong's side

Christmas 2009*

*The title says it all, a very backdated post indeed. :)

Our Christmas last year was good, we put up our Christmas tree about 3 weeks before Christmas and my mei-mei and I helped papa set it up.

I put up the star!

A pretty pose with our decorated Christmas tree

On Christmas eve, we spent it at my Kai Yeh's (Godfather) parents place. Waiting for our presents, there were so many since all who came are suppose to get all the kids presents. I like this rule! :D

Although it was Christmas eve, I was allowed to open one present and it was from my Kai Yeh and it was a princess jewelry box! I love it!

On Christmas day itself, first thing in the morning, we were allowed to open all the presents I got from everybody else including mummy and papa. There will be more later in the afternoon when we are at Uncle Ivan's place.

this is the barbie doll umbrella that Aunty Ng (my caretaker at the daycare) got me

Later in the afternoon, we went over to Uncle Ivan's place and this was what greeted us....

and of course, the spectacular view too...this is one place you wanna be to see fireworks in town!




A pretty pose!





I went for a swim with my cousins but I only hung out at the baby pool, I didn't dare join them in the big pool, even with the one that has a huge water slide

We came back, got changed just to open our presents!





My cousin, Ro Wyn, distributing the presents

That night, we headed over to our Peh Deh's (papa's brother) place for dinner.

Since I cannot bully Shane, our little cousin, I was disturbing my mei-mei - see how Arnie on TV was so fascinated





the main purpose we were there, to open another present! :D




but my mei-mei and I enjoyed helping Shane opened his instead and also were eyeing on his new toy!

Nice Christmassy cupcakes that looks too good to be eaten!

That's our celebration for Christmas 2009, I'm definitely looking forward to this year's Christmas because not long after that would be my birthday! :D

On swimming

As much as I love playing with water all these while, I still have my fears and will only want to hang out in the baby pool. I will need my floats for comfort and rarely will lift my legs off the floor of the swimming pool. I will never put my face in the water and I will never want to sit on water slides!

Since June this year, papa has been taking us to our pool over the weekends for swimming. Initially, I will always play safe and hung out on my own in my own comfort and will not slide down the wall slide at our pool. But when I saw how comfortable my mei-mei was with the water and her floats, I started gaining confidence but I must always have my floats on.

I even dare to go down like this

And then I dare to lift my legs up after seeing how my mei-mei enjoy this

Lately, I do not need my floats at all while I'm in the baby pool unless I want to float in the water. This is a huge achievement for me.

Now I can go into the deep pool but I need to have my floats on and I will do one round of swimming, of course, with my head always above the water. :)

Making Spring Rolls

Remember my pizza making session? Since I had so much fun with it, papa gave me another opportunity at cooking again. Many months back, I helped papa made some mini spring rolls at home. So here's how we did it:-

Note: ingredients and other stuff were prepared by papa.

First, lay out a layer of spring roll/wan ton skin

Second, put some stuffing (in this case, it's minced pork mixed with some secret recipe of papa's) at one side

Thirdly, start folding from the sides

Fourth, fold again till you come to the end

Fifth, line the edges with egg stuff so the skin can be stucked to the body of the spring roll


Sixth, smile for the camera! :D and do everything again till you finish

Ta daaaa! The wan tons were rolled up by papa. Pssst, mummy said I rolled the spring rolls, better than she does.

After they have been fried!

Yummy!

When can we cook again papa?!!! Oh, we made some ice cream too some time back but sorry, no pics of that so no updates. Maybe the next time we make ice cream ya!

Mummy's entry - Thumb sucking

It’s been a while that I posted on this topic and no, Rye Li has yet to kick the habit. I’ve given up the fact that I would try to stop it for her and just pray that she will not suck her thumb when she’s in her teens or worst, to adulthood. :)

Anyway, I’ve been wanting to post up the photos of her thumb sucking moments when we went to US for our holiday in 2007 as I found them hilarious but never got around to it. So why now? Well, there are still funny moments as well that I caught her sucking her thumb and I want to keep these for memories’ sake. I know she will kill me one day for posting these up but I will tell her then that these are memories worth keeping as she’s too cute sucking her thumb (still is and I know as she grows older, she won’t look cute anymore sucking her thumb!).

I’ll let you all see for yourselves on how cute she is….

The above were taken in the plane on our way there, she got this habit while sucking her left thumb, her right hand has to feel something. Initially, it started with her bolster's casing or her pillows at home and also the bedsheet. And then it went to her baby sling. From this trip, I got to know she can also hold on to anything that soothes her. The following pictures will explain this.

The above were taken in Las Vegas. On the way there in the car journey, since she had nothing to hold on to while sucking her thumb, she used the cloth of her pants. In the hotel room, she used the bed covers as well.

The above shows us that she was desperate enough to even hold on to our clothes.

LOL!...she also used the furniture's material

The above left picture was of her holding on to her aunt's leather bag - a sign that she may be into leathers later?!! :D The upper right was when we were lining up for our boat ride in San Francisco, she was holding on the stroller's material. And the lower right was really funny, we were at Targets (I think) to buy chocolates and all, and this girl got herself a bag of tootsie rolls just so she could have her 'fix'! She was really getting desperate with this one! LOL!

The above were taken in the restaurant (all 3 different ones). I would be able to understand if it was the table cloth but I could not understand why the papers as well?!!! Rye Li, Rye Li! You're too cute and full of surprises!

The above with papa and the one on the left is with her beloved sling. When I was pregnant with Haye Li, I've stopped using the sling on her and kept it away. Luckily, she never asked for it and when I brought it out again once Haye Li was out, she seems to have forgotten what it meant to her. Phew!

I've not seen her sucking her thumb that much with different 'materials' (not in KL anyway) and I was assuming due to all the changes from the holiday, she stucked to one thing that gives her the most comfort and that was her thumb!

All the above were taken when she was 1 year and 10 months old. Now, fast forward to over 2 and a half years later, she still sucks her thumb although she's back to her bolsters, pillow cases and bedsheets. And so this was what I thought...

Last November when we were up at Camerons, I found her doing this...

Halfway playing, she must have somehow felt the curtain's material and then her natural instincts came on board. I found too funny and had to take a picture.

And below is the latest one from last weekend. I was getting her ready for bed and made her lie down so I can put on her diapers (yes, still on diapers at nights!), she somehow felt the mattress cover (the mattress was laid against the wall) and she automatically did this.

My Rye Li, my Rye Li, what do I do with you....you really entertain us at home! Funny la you! ;)